Texas A&M-Commerce transfer WR Andrew Armstrong sets Missouri visit

The NCAA transfer portal is not officially open for FBS players, as conference championship weekend must conclude first. However, FCS players are free to begin looking around and one of the top early entrants has been Texas A&M-Commerce wide receiver Andrew Armstrong.

Hearing from a plethora of schools, one SEC program has already locked in a visit. Missouri will host Armstrong on Dec. 16, the wide receiver announced via Twitter on Tuesday. The Tigers will be one of many looking to get Armstrong on campus before he ultimately makes a decision.

Armstrong is a native of the Dallas, TX area, attending Bishop Dunne High School. In 11 games with Texas A&M-Commerce this season, Armstrong had 62 receptions for 1,020 yards and 13 touchdowns. As the Lions played a full FCS schedule, he did not have the opportunity to go up against any FBS opponents this season.

Even so, Power Five programs across the country will be interested in his services. According to On3’s Inside Texas, 17 different schools have reached out, with eight pulling the trigger with an offer. More are surely on the way as well.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.